The present invention relates generally to a coin separating and counting apparatus for separating coins in accordance with a difference in diameter and counting the number of coins in a respective set of separated coins that is introduced into a corresponding segment of a coin passage. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inclined type coin separating and counting apparatus, in which a coin passage defined between an upper inclined rail and a lower inclined rail has a width incrementally increasing from an upstream thereof to a downstream thereof, and a coin moving along the coin slot and having a given diameter falls from the lower inclined rail at a specific segment of the coin slot that is determined by both the coin diameter and the corresponding width of the coin slot at that specific segment. Each coin that has fallen at a specific segment is counted. A conveying means is provided to move the coins of various diameter along the coin slot automatically.
Devices capable of counting a number of coins of a specific diameter are known. Also, coin separators capable of separating coins and introducing the separated coins into coin passages in accordance with the type of coins are known. But a device which can be used to automatically count a respective number of coins of various diameters is still not available. Therefore, it will be convenient to have a coin separating and counting device which can be used to separate the coins of various diameters contained in a certain location according to their diameters and then count a respective number of coins of a specific diameter separated or selected.